What Hillary Hasn't Done In Foreign Policy
During the eight years Hillary was First Lady, she didn't deal with terrorism, Osama bin Laden, or Al Qaeda.
She wasn't a decision-maker on any of the other big foreign policy issues of her husband's presidency: whether to send troops to Bosnia or Kosovo, whether to bomb terrorist bases in Afghanistan or suspected terrorist sites in the Sudan.
She didn't deal with the problems in the CIA and other intelligence agencies. She didn't work on nuclear proliferation. She did not deal with genocide in Rwanda.
When Bill Clinton brought Israelis and Palestinians to negotiations at Camp David in 2000, Hillary wasn't there.
These are the conclusions reached by New York Times reporter Patrik Healy, who reported on Dec. 26 on his conversations with 35 Clinton administration officials and his interview with Hillary herself.
"Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance," Healy wrote. "She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda."
Most important: Hillary did not do "the hard part of foreign policy" - "making tough decisions, responding to crises." That's what Susan Rice told the New York Times - she was a National Security Council senior aide and a State Department official during the Clinton administration. She's now supporting Obama.
Readers may recall that Hillary has claimed to be the most experienced Democratic candidate not just on domestic issues, but also on international, because of her eight years in the White House. She often says she visited 79 countries as first lady. She often talks about meeting with the president of Uzbekistan and the prime minister of Czechoslovakia.
But when the New York Times reporter asked her to name three major foreign policy decisions in which she played a decisive role as first lady, she "responded in generalities" rather than specifics.
When the Times asked her to cite a significant foreign policy lesson she learned from the 1990s, she replied "There are a lot of them," and went on to talk about "the whole unfortunate experience we've had with the Bush administration."
What did she do on those trips to 79 countries? These were mostly "good-will endeavors" where she supported nonprofit work. She acted as "a spokeswoman for American interests." She often spoke out for women's rights -- especially at the 1995 UN conference on women in Beijing. She brought Catholic and Protestant women together at a meeting in Northern Ireland. And, Healy reported, she often advocated "the expanded use of microcredits, tiny loans to help individuals in poor countries start small businesses."
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Mr Weiner---You are trying to say that spending EIGHT YEARS in the White House -- an INTELLIGENT WOMAN like Hillary who spoke with all the dignitaries of the world at that time ---who had contact with the administration at that time--- knows nothing about foreign and domestic policy that went on?
YOUR WHOLE POST is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS and you are insulting us all thinking we will buy it.
Let’s look at Hillary’s recent stance on foreign policy. She talks about staying in Iraq until 2013 and permanent bases in Iraq. She threatens war with Iran. Sounds to me much like Bush’s policies. Have WE learned anything in 7 years?
Most important: Hillary did not do "the hard part of foreign policy" - "making tough decisions, responding to crises." That's what Susan Rice told the New York Times - she was a National Security Council senior aide and a State Department official during the Clinton administration. She's now supporting Obama.
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Now, if that entire passage doesn't make you laugh out loud, nothing will!
Even if everything you have said is true, Hillary's trips to 79 different countries is more foreign exposure than any other candidate that ran for president since the birth of the United States in 1776!
No first-term president has the "experience" to be president. They either do or don't come up to the job in the process of doing it. Abraham Lincoln was ridiculed as being a poor fellow way in over his head when he started his term.
Yup, I have been waiting for Hillary to tell us exactly what her experience is - actually some detail - not these generalities that comes down to she was married to the President, did some meet and greets and failed completely with health care.
As for the meetings she held - exactly what came out of them?
Iowa, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?
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